Diocese of Orange Gets New Auxiliary Bishop to Help Lead Growing Flock, RCBO.org, January 5, 2008

Diocese of Orange Gets New Auxiliary Bishop to Help Lead Growing Flock

RCBO.org
January 5, 2008

http://www.rcbo.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=414&Itemid=100000001

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI has announced the appointment of Rev. Cirilo Flores, pastor of Saint Norbert's Church in Orange, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Orange. The appointment by the Pope recognizes the impressive growth and increasing administrative needs of a Diocese that has seen its Catholic population swell to more than 1.2 million parishioners since its inception in 1976.

"We are truly blessed as a Diocese to have benefited from the pastoral care and unique gifts offered by Bishop-elect Flores over his 18 years of service to Orange County. The Holy Father has rightly chosen a dynamic leader and capable pastor to assist me in the care of our Catholic family. I look forward to his unique insight and profound understanding of the many diverse communities that make our Diocese so culturally rich," said the Most Rev. Tod D. Brown, Bishop of Orange.

Bishop Brown will ordain Rev. Flores as Auxiliary Bishop March 19, 2009 in a rare and beautiful ceremony at Saint Columban's Church in Garden Grove, Calif. Bishop-elect Flores is the second priest of the Diocese of Orange to be appointed as a Bishop and will take up the position vacated by Bishop Jaime Soto when he was appointed as Coadjutor Bishop of Sacramento on October 11, 2007. The principal focus of an Auxiliary Bishop is to assist the Bishop in the administration of the Diocese.

The native of Corona, Calif., Bishop-elect Flores graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and then from Stanford University School of Law and practiced law before he entered Saint John's Seminary in Camarillo, Calif. in 1986. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 1991 by Bishop Norman McFarland at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, Calif. His first priestly assignment was as Parochial Vicar at St. Barbara Parish in Santa Ana. Bishop-elect Flores also served as a Parochial Vicar at St. Joachim Parish in Costa Mesa and served briefly as the administrator of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Newport Beach. In 1997, he was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in La Habra where he served as Parochial Vicar until his appointment as Pastor of St. Anne Parish in Santa Ana in the year 2000. In September of 2008 he began his new appointment as Pastor of St. Norbert's Parish in Orange.

In addition to his pastoral responsibilities, Bishop-elect Flores has served on the Bishop's Council of Priests, Finance Council, and Priests Personnel Board. Bishop-elect Flores is fluent in Spanish and English.

"I look forward to continuing my mission of service to the people of God as Auxiliary Bishop of Orange. It is an honor to have been selected by Pope Benedict XVI to assist Bishop Brown and Bishop Dominic Luong in the administration of our growing Diocese," said Bishop-elect Flores.